Pulitzer winner refuses award over New York museum’s Palestinian keffiyeh ban

New York (Quds News Network)- Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri declined to accept an award from New York City’s Noguchi Museum after it fired three employees for wearing keffiyeh head scarves, an emblem of Palestinian solidarity, following an updated dress code.

“Jhumpa Lahiri has chosen to withdraw her acceptance of the 2024 Isamu Noguchi Award in response to our updated dress code policy,” the museum said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We respect her perspective and understand that this policy may or may not align with everyone’s views.”

Lahiri received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for her book “Interpreter of Maladies,” Reuters reported.

Last month, the art museum – founded by Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi – announced a policy prohibiting employees from wearing anything that expressed “political messages, slogans or symbols.”

Lahiri was one of thousands of scholars who signed a letter in May to university presidents in the US, expressing solidarity with campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, calling it “unspeakable destruction”.

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